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Development of novel biophysical tools and methods to study and manipulate molecules on the surface of cells

Many of the most important interactions in the human body take place between molecules on the surface of cells. This also means that the consequences can be severe if these interactions malfunction, which, for example, can result in common diseases such as diabetes and allergy. Suitable tools are needed in order to better understand what happens when these molecules are interacting with each other. We are, for this purpose, developing different methods using nm- to µm-sized pipettes to locally manipulate and stimulate molecules on the surface of cells (see Fig. 1). Combined with advanced fluorescence microscopy (single molecule, FRAP, TIRF) makes this a powerful method to study the properties and function of different molecules in cell membranes. We have, for example, used the liquid flow from a µm-sized pipette to trap and accumulate molecules locally in supported lipid bilayers (SLBs),and used this to measure the mobility of protein molecules in a lipid bilayer without labels.2 We have also delivered molecules from nm-sized pipettes to the surface of neuronal cells to locally stimulate and study heat- and pain-sensitive receptors,3 and delivered small molecular drugs to study receptors on heart cells4,5. We are currently developing these pipette-based techniques with the aim to use them to obtain fundamental knowledge about real biological problems such as how proteins interact and organize on the surface of cells and how different molecules interact locally with the cell membrane6.

 

Fig. 1. Schematic illustrations showing how the liquid flow through a small pipette can be used to (A) accumulate membrane-associated molecules by the hydrodynamic drag forces arising from the flow through the pipette and (B) to locally deliver molecules to subcellular areas.

Funding

Swedish Research Council - project grant 2018

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